2017 Gold Cup winner Sizing John has been ruled out for the rest of this season after meeting with a setback.

Jessica Harrington's star chaser had been in a race against time to return this season before suffering injury with the unusually dry weather scuppering his comeback bid on a number of occasions.

The nine-year-old hasn't been seen on a racecourse since disappointing nearly 14 months ago at Leopardstown's Christmas meeting with a pelvic injury halting his blue-riband defence at last year's Cheltenham Festival.

He will now miss the Cotswolds for the second year running and his future may come into question with Harrington revealing that her team "will do what's best for him" as regards racing again.

"Unfortunately, Sizing John has met with a setback and he will miss the remainder of this season. After routine exercise yesterday, I wasn’t happy with him and our vet came down and examined him," Harrington wrote in her Unibet blog.

"He has confirmed to me that he has met with a setback, which means that he won’t run at Cheltenham or Punchestown. His owners have been informed and, naturally, they are very disappointed, as is everyone at Commonstown.

"We will do what is best for him and we’ll speak to our veterinary team over the coming weeks and months and we will keep everyone posted on his progress."